August 4: If it is to be, it most certainly ISN'T up to me..

2 Chronicles 35:1-36:23

1 Corinthians 1:1-17

Psalm 27:1-6

Proverbs 20:20-21

"For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the Gospel - not with wisdom and eloquence, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power."

- 1 Cor 1:17

Reading this today, it occurred to me how much this theme recurs in the Bible.  We know the story of Martha and Mary, and how Martha thought how well the Lord's visit went depended on all she could do.  We've read Proverbs 3:5-6, which tells us not only to "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your understanding", but reminds us in all our ways to submit to Him, so that He - not we - will make our paths straight.  

Paul reminded me of this today - that the outcomes I seek are hardly ever determined by the effort I make.  Because if I could depend upon whatever I have that passes for strength and wisdom, what need would I have for Christ?  If I could depend upon myself, then the cross of Christ would be emptied of its power.  And yet, it isn't easy.  One of the things I learned when I was young was the phrase "If it is to be, it is up to me", and I've learned to try and live by that phrase for much of my life.  Worse, I've spent so much of their childhood trying to pass it on to my children.  

How much better to be able to know God well enough to know I can depend on Him for all things?  To be able to pray, as in today's Psalm, "The Lord is my light and my salvation - whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life - of whom shall I be afraid?...One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple."  Mary understood that, and she chose to sit at the Lord's feet, hungry for His word - to "be still and know that [He is] God".  May I and my family, and all of us, learn to do the same.